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By Anna Grace Moore | Photos Contributed

The Shelby County Hall of Fame will take place at American Village on Thursday, Oct. 23. For tickets to this year’s Shelby County Hall of Fame ceremony, email alec.etheredge@shelbycountyreporter.com or call 205-669-3131 and ask for Mary Jo.

Shelby County born and bred, the Hon. James Michael “Mike” Joiner’s familial history runs five generations deep in the county. Growing up around Indian Springs, he remembers riding his bike along Highway 119.

His father worked for the power company, and his mother, the post office.

“Neither of them had ever gone to college, but they both recognized the incredible benefits of education for both me and my brother,” Joiner says.

This connectivity has defined his career, rooted in servitude and compassion.

Humble Beginnings

Joiner attended Valley Elementary, Thompson Middle and Indian Springs schools, all of which he credits for establishing his love of learning. He was a member of one of the last graduating classes at Indian Springs back when it was an all-boys institution.

He did not venture far for college. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history at Samford University and his juris doctor from the Cumberland School of Law.

He cut his teeth at a small practice in Alabaster right out of law school.

“I practiced for a short period of time with another lawyer in Alabaster, and then he decided to leave that practice, and I kind of inherited pieces of it,” Joiner says. “Within a year or so of coming out of law school, I’m there by myself as a solo practitioner, having developed some relationships, basically figuring out how am I going to make a living doing this.”

At the time, his wife was working as a nurse, providing the family with steady income and health insurance. Joiner remembers long nights spent trying to keep his practice alive.

“It was a one-man office,” he says. “I remember when I hired my first employee, my secretary. She took a pay cut to come work for me because she wanted to come into that type of environment, a great young lady that we knew through church. That first year, she made more money than I did! Every year, it got better. God blessed us greatly.”

The 10 years he spent practicing instilled in him two things: a no-quit attitude and a lifelong commitment to serve.

“I’ve just had an incredible number of blessings of circumstances that have led me in various decisions and directions,” he says.

Then in 1992, he ran for a newly created circuit judgeship.

“There was a local lawyer who wrote an article for the paper who basically predicted that I would win, and his words were, ‘He’ll win because he’s got more relatives in Shelby County than there are beer cans in Lay Lake!’” Joiner says, chuckling.

Sure enough, he won and took office in January 1993. In 2005, he became the presiding judge and continued serving until January 2011.

Establishing the Shelby County Drug Court

Throughout his career, Joiner’s establishment of the Shelby County Drug Court in 2002, and later, his helping implement more courts throughout the state, has been his most impactful service to hundreds of individuals.

“During the time that I presided over criminal cases in this county, I tried three different teenage boys’ cases,” he recalls, later adding, “all three of them were sentenced to death row, and all three of them were involved in crime that they might not have been involved with but for the involvement of drugs.”

Heavy is the hand that holds the gavel, but heavier was Joiner’s heart, aching at these decisions.

Then-assistant district attorney Barry Page later presented the idea of a “drug court” to Joiner. The court operates more as a rehabilitation system, prioritizing accountability and treatment.

Across the country, judges were using these courts for nonviolent offenders—many whose only crime was possession. Drug court participants would meet weekly with counselors, attorneys and the presiding judge in court, get tested and receive orders for treatment.

Sometimes, participants were ordered to attend support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. If they complied and tested negative, their court appearances would lessen with time, eventually leading to their “graduating” drug court and hopefully, maintaining sobriety.

“I realized if we could address that issue (drugs), then maybe we could avoid incarceration for those individuals because incarceration did them no good, and we can’t afford it,” Joiner says.

He assembled a team of 10 different individuals in the justice system and traveled to Dallas and Los Angeles for national training before implementing the program in Shelby County. Over time, he would help train others to establish similar systems in their own courtrooms.

Now, 65 of Alabama’s 67 counties have drug courts.

Joiner’s drug court has three rules: be honest, show up and don’t do drugs. However, he knows that recovery is hardly ever so simple.

“For a lot of these folks coming in, telling them to quit using heroin is like telling you to quit breathing,” he says. “You would have as much success in voluntarily quitting breathing as they do voluntarily quitting using drugs without some help.”

Most participants in his drug court spend about a year in the program before graduating—some just six months, others several years. Joiner says a study by the Shelby County District Attorney’s office found that roughly 80 percent of his drug court graduates were not arrested again within five years of graduating.

“They wanted to see how it was working and concluded that it was a roaring success,” he says.

Several graduates have gone on to become dentists, accountants, lawyers and more.

One pharmacy student’s poor life choices wound her up in Joiner’s court. She went through his program, completed her treatment and later earned her license to practice pharmacy.

To him, this is what drug court is all about: second chances.

Another participant impressed him with her sense of fashion.

“I hadn’t worn a bow tie since I was 4 years old, but there was a young lady in the group who, every week, would come just really well-dressed,” he says. “So, we made it a point to talk about bow ties. She said, ‘Judge, you need to wear a bow tie.’ I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. When you get to graduation, I’ll wear a bow tie.’”

In 2025, Joiner watched her graduate from drug court. The two celebrated her achievement by both wearing bow ties and taking a picture together.

“Nowhere else in the criminal justice system do you get to have those types of experiences,” he says.

One of the most powerful moments of his career came in the form of a letter.

“She says, ‘Since getting clean, I found something I never thought I would find again, purpose,’” Joiner reads, smiling. “‘I now understand that my life has meaning, that I’m capable of change, that I found the man of my dreams—someone who sees the real me, not just the brokenness. I’m beyond thankful for my counselor and for my judge, both of whom believe in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.’”

It’s moments like these, he says, that show him he’s making a difference.

A Far-Extended Reach

Joiner’s ring of influence is not limited to Shelby County, however. In 2011, he was appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, where he served till 2019 and as the presiding judge on the court of the judiciary from 2013-2018.

His years of service also include co-founding and serving as president of the Alabama Association of Drug Court Professionals. He also served on the executive committee of the Circuit Judges Association and the Alabama Public Safety and Sentencing Coalition.

In 2016, he joined the board of directors of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, now known as All Rise, later serving as its chairman from 2023-2025.

“We changed the name from National Association of Drug Court Professionals to All Rise,” he says. “The thinking is that when we help one rise, we all rise.”

In May 2025, Joiner was inducted into the Goldstein Treatment Court Hall of Fame.

Despite his widespread recognition, he jokes he retired from the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2019 and stayed retired for less than two weeks before deciding to return to the Shelby County Drug Court.

Being able to create a direct impact in other people’s lives, for him, felt irreplaceable.

“As I look around at the way God has blessed me, I think God expects me to try to do what I can to share those blessings,” he says, referencing his return to drug court.

Truthfully, he has never been too motivated by fancy titles or shiny plaques on his office’s walls; rather, what fuels his passion, really, is seeing lives transformed by his work. He chuckles, saying, one day he will retire, but that day is not today, and it probably won’t be tomorrow, either. He still has more work to do, more individuals to help.

And while Mike Joiner’s retirement may not be set in stone, his career is concrete proof that courtrooms do more than just pass judgement—in his case, they help restore lives.